Tolerate: to allow;exist or occur without interference.
Intolerance: unable or indisposed to tolerate; unwillingness to recognise and respect

I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.

Gluten and lactose are not my friends.

Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.

I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

February 27, 2014

Awesome Onion Rings

An onion is indeed a wonderful thing!

One of the original work horses of the kitchen, they are invaluable in most dishes and nearly every cuisine world wide. They have been around for thousands of years and according to Wikipedia, were even worshiped by the ancient Egyptians as they thought that the spherical shape and the concentric rings symbolized eternal life. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onions to firm up their muscles and in the Middle Ages people would use onions to pay rent, relieve headaches, make poultices, encourage male members and facilitate bowel movements- who knew how very versatile these little babies were?

As exciting as all that is, there's just one problem.... I hate raw onions

By raw I mean Not Cooked- and that extends to clumsy chunks of onion that have been mixed into rissoles or meatloaf and not allowed the time to cook through, or pretty red rings in salads for a bit of acidity, and cubes stuck sadly on kebabs charred on the outside and crunchy on the inside. It's not the flavour I mind though, it's the acidity. Raw onions give me terrible indigestion and repeat on me miserably for hours, so I tend to use nice green Spring Onions instead for freshness and traditional brown ones for slow cooking
Luckily for me, this is the time of year when Salad Onions are readily available. These are just Spring Onions that have been allowed to develop a little more into an immature bulb, and are really very sweet with very little acidity at all. I still can't eat them raw, but I can fudge it a little and have them just lightly cooked instead of terribly soft and limp

If they're too thin they'll cook before the batter does and be stringy and tough. We're aiming for soft and sweet on the inside, with crisp and crunchy on the outside

Pop the extra flour and the breadcrumbs in separate bowls for dipping

Simple Batter ingredients- beer and flour

Spices, chilli, garlic powder and all can be added to the batter if you like, but I really love the simplicity from the flavour of the beer. Feel free to try out different combinations though and let me know what works for you :)

Whisk lightly until combined nicely- a few little lumps here and there aren't an issue

I used about a cup of gluten free flour to a stubby of beer, but that's only approximate. Gluten free flour tends to thicken up more than regular flour as a rule, so adjust as necessary. You're looking for the texture of pouring cream- not so thin that it just runs straight off the onion, but definitely not all that thick either. If you don't like or have handy, any gf beer, then you can use plain soda water instead. Having the bubbles and keeping it cold will ensure the batter is nice and light

All lined up in order, ready to go: Flour, Batter and Breadcrumbs

Dust each onion ring lightly in gf flour, and shake off the excess

Dip the ring in the batter, letting any extra run off
I find using long handled kitchen tweezers work really well for this. Tongs touch too much surface area and fingers are waaay too messy. If you don't have tweezers then chopsticks aren't a bad substitute

Quickly cover the battered ring in the gf breadcrumbs- work fast or the batter might drip off. Of course the breadcrumb step isn't strictlly neccesary, i just like the extra crunchiness they give

Pop the ring into the hot oil and cook until golden brown and nice and crunchy- yummo! Flip the ring with tongs if necessary to let the oil cover the top.
I only did one at a time as I didn't have much oil on hand, using a bigger pan would certainly be quicker :)

Perfect and pretty indeed!

By far the best way to stop fried items going soggy is to allow free air circulation instead of the food steaming. A baking rack is great for this and it allows any extra oil to drain away as well- much better than the usual solution of kitchen paper

I took these onion rings a little under golden brown as I wanted to serve them later at dinner time. The best way to heat them up is again on the rack in the oven to allow the hot air to circulate freely and stop any juices stewing on a flat tray. They will crisp up beautifully and brown up at the same time without overcooking if you do it this way

Now don't these look delicious? A wonderful drinking snack, great with a burger or as we had them, sitting next to a great big steak with smokey BBQ dipping sauce- Yummo!

So my Dear Readers, are you a fan of onions and how would you partake of these Awesome Onion Rings?

I love onions too. I have never found one I didn't like, raw or cooked. I think onion rings are a gift from heaven. I don't make them often but when I do I add a quarter cup of potato flakes to the batter with the beer. Gives it a bit of sticktoitiveness.

I don't like raw onions either, particularly in salads. Like you, I usually substitute shallots. I do love onion rings though but I've never made them! I shall give these a try because they have turned out perfectly. And who knew onions were so useful! xx

Amazing isn't it Charlie- but then I think at some stage nearly every food was considered an aphrodisiac to some culture! I hope your family likes them, you can get these onions just at Woolies at the moment xox

Becca, your onion rings look fabulous, and what great tips on cooking them! I'll let my deep fried foods cool on a rack from now on, thank you, and I never realised you could reheat them on the rack in the oven! xxx

I made these as an accompaniment to fish and ratatouille on Friday night and they were amazing. Well greeted by both hubby and teenagers alike. The soda water kept the batter light and being able to make the onion rings ahead and fridge till the last minute was great. Excellent recipe thank you :D

Hi BecI hate raw onion, especially in salad where people love to put chunks of it through all the other lovely ingredients. I didnt know you could make batter out of GF flour just like you can with regular flour so thanks for this little tip. Hop you are recovering x

About Me

The InTolerant Chef is the nom-de-plume of The InTolerant Chef.She lives in Canberra,Australia,with her husband Big J, and 2 daughters, Little j and Middle C. Gluten and Lactose are not her friends. She also has many chemicals who refuse to tolerate her, and insulin finds her hard to resist. Despite all this, the InTolerant Chef is a healthy,happy person who loves cooking for her family and friends.